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SARAH WILLIAMS HUNTINGTON 

“SISTER SARAH” 

* 


1837—1917 



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SARAH WILLIAMS HUNTINGTON 


SISTEE SAEAH” 

* 


A TRIBUTE PREPARED BY DIRECTION OF 


TRUSTEES OE ST. JOHN’S CHURCH ORPHANAGE 

OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


* 


WASHINGTON 
Beresford, Printer 
191S 




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ST. JOHN’S CHURCH ORPHANAGE. 


Board or Trustees—1882. 

The Right Reverend William Pinkney; Reverend William 
A. Leonard; Montgomery Blair; Wm. H. Emory, U. S. A.; 
Robert Reyburn, M. D.; Frank W. Hackett; Thomas Hyde; 
Chauncey McKeever, U. S. A.; F. M. Gunnell, U. S. N.; 
George D. Ruggles, U. S. A.; Alexander Bliss; A. Ross 
Ray; Charles H. Crane, U. S. N.; Gustavus V. Fox 

Board or Trustees—1918. 

The Right Reverend Alfred Harding; Reverend Roland 
Cotton Smith; Frank W. Hackett; Nicholas Luquer; Charles- 
H. Stockton; Hennen Jennings; N. L. Burchell; Chauncey 
Hackett; Walter R. Tuckerman, Ralph C. Johnson. 

From the Records of the Board of Trustees. 

At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the 
Church Orphanage Association, February 1 , 1917, on motion 
of Rear Admiral Stockton, Mr. Frank W. Hackett was 
appointed a committee of one, to draw a proper minute on 
the death of Sister Sarah. 

Walter R. Tuckerman, 

Secretary . 



4 


From the Reverend Doctor Roland Cotton Smith, 
Rector of St. John's Church. 

In the following pages there have been collected, and put 
into permanent form, tributes that were paid, at the time of 
her death, to a spiritual genius, known by every one as 
“ Sister Sarah.” She was a remarkable example of how the 
Spirit can work with power in a human life. 

We often build an institution, and then look about for a 
personality to fill it. Sister Sarah started with her per¬ 
sonality. She drew a few motherless and fatherless chil¬ 
dren about her, and by the irresistible force of a cheerful, 
joyful, self-sacrificing service, she attracted the attention of 
men and women who, in their turn, built a roof over her 
personality, and gave to her spirit a local habitation and a 
name—the most consistently Christian institution that I 
know of—St. John’s Orphanage. 

Sister Sarah had one consuming passion, to love and care 
for as many children as cbuld possibly be brought under one 
roof. All red tape was set aside; rules were often broken. 
If there was not room in the beds she would put the children 
under the beds, so long as she could love and help them. 

She demonstrated, every day, the power of spirit over 
matter. She knew little about the modern ideas of the laws 
of health, and often defied them, and her children were 
the healthiest in Washington. She knew less about the 
modern ideas of efficiency, and yet her economies were the 
despair and admiration of Efficiency Boards. 


5 


She took whatever tools she found at hand, no matter 
how poor they may have been, and glorified and made them 
effective by her undaunted spirit. She made an Institution 
a Home. 

Her dress of a “ Sister,” which sometimes becomes the 
symbol of a narrow and restricted life, became with her the 
symbol of a broad and generous catholicity, as she drew in 
the name of her Christ, into the folds of her garment, the 
little children who rise up today, with all the people who 
ever knew her, to bless the name of “ Sister Sarah.” 


6 


SISTER SARAH. 


. “ Blessed, blessed they 
The merciful, whose ears 
Are swift to hear the crying of distress; 

Soft as the rain in summer fall their tears; 

Their place is found beside the fatherless. 

4 Yea, 

Blessed they 

To whom the outcast and the poor complain 
Not in vain; 

Mercies numberless 

They hereafter shall obtain.” 

Harriet McEwen Kimball 

On Thursday, January 25, 1917, entered into rest at the 
St. John’s Orphanage Building, on F and Twentieth Streets, 
Northwest, Sarah Williams Huntington, known to children 
whom she had blest, and to the people of Washington, as 
“ Sister Sarah.” Had her life been spared for five months 
longer, she would have reached the age of eighty years. 

Sister Sarah was born in Brunswick, Ohio, 27th June, 
1837, the daughter of Joseph Hyde and Eleanor (Foster) 
Huntington, of Norwich, Connecticut. Her father and 
mother lived in Norwich; but at the time of her birth, for 
reasons of business, they had been staying for two or three 
years in Ohio. Mr. Huntington was a descendant of Simon 
Huntington, of Norwich, the ancestor of many prominent 
rectors of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country. 

The school days and the early life of Sister Sarah were 
passed in Norwich. She was confirmed there in Trinity 
Church, on Easter Eve, April 3, 1858, by the Right Rev¬ 
erend John Williams, Bishop of Connecticut. The Rector 



7 


of Trinity at that time was the Reverend Benjamin H. Pad- 
dock, afterwards Bishop of Massachusetts. It is an inter¬ 
esting fact that, from 1862 to 1865, the Reverend John 
Vaughan Lewis (who later came to St. John’s Washington,) 
was Rector of Trinity Church, Norwich. He had thus 
made the acquaintance of Sarah Huntington, and had noted 
some of the striking features of her character. 

In 1867 the home at Norwich was broken up by the death 
of her father and mother. For the next few years Sister 
Sarah spent some of her time in visiting and in travelling. 
She lived with a brother at Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1869, she 
journeyed to the Pacific Coast, and thence sailed to Hono¬ 
lulu. Sometime in 1871, upon the invitation of Dr. John 
Vaughan Lewis, Miss Huntington came to Washington, for 
the purpose of beginning upon work that culminated in the 
establishment of St. John’s Orphanage. Soon after her ar¬ 
rival she entered the Sisterhood, and took the name of 
“ Sister Sarah.” She rented a house, formerly owned and 
occupied by Surgeon-General Lawson, of the Army, num¬ 
bered 525, on Twentieth Street, at the corner of F North¬ 
west—a large, old-fashioned, brick house, with plenty of 
ground in front. Here Sister Sarah gathered around her 
half-a-dozen little children, and cared for them at her own 
expense. 

When the Reverend William A. Leonard had begun his 
duties at Washington, as Rector of St. John’s, he recognized 
the capability of Sister Sarah to take charge of an institu¬ 
tion for the care of orphan children. Such an institution he 
had founded in Brooklyn, while Rector there of the Church 
of the Redeemer. In April, 1882, with characteristic en¬ 
ergy and sound judgment, Dr. Leonard brought together in 


8 


the small vestry-room of St. John’s (the door of which 
opened on H Street), a few of his parishioners, who, with 
the Rector as Warden of the Board of Trustees, and Mr. 
Thomas Hyde, of Georgetown, as Treasurer, organized the 
present Church Orphanage Association of St. John’s Parish. 
Sister Sarah was placed in charge. 

From that day to the present time St. John’s Orphanage 
has enjoyed a steady and healthy growth. The wonderful 
degree of success that has attended the development of this 
beneficent institution has been entirely due to the skill and 
the devotion of this noble woman. The Trustees are im¬ 
pelled to spread upon the record a memorial of the service 
rendered by Sister Sarah. It is no more than the simple 
truth to declare that all through these many years Sister 
Sarah had herself been “ The Orphanage.” In her there 
were united what is rarely to be witnessed, the gentle grace 
of a cultivated woman and the keen insight of a person ac¬ 
customed to deal from day to day with the problem of 
expending a dollar to the best advantage. 

Surely a debt of gratitude is due from the people of 
Washington to the memory of Sister Sarah. Of a saintly 
character, she had for almost half a century quietly but most 
efficiently been promoting the public welfare. With dili¬ 
gence she had applied herself to a work that made for 
lasting good in this community. Sister Sarah, during a 
period of five and forty years, consecrated each waking hour 
to the task of taking little children from miserable surround¬ 
ings and giving to them a home—nurturing them into boys 
and girls, who grew up to be men and women, happy and 
respected. 

This gracious task she accomplished single-handed. A 


9 


full narrative of obstacles overcome, and of results achieved, 
would appear almost incredible, so great has been the num¬ 
ber of those little ones brought by her ministrations out from 
squalor into sunshine. Not merely was it that here and 
there a precious life had been rescued, but year after year 
scores, and even hundreds, of children had looked to her and 
found in her encouraging smile how sacred is a mother’s 
love. Above all, Sister Sarah was at pains to instil into the 
mind of each tender charge some knowledge of those re¬ 
ligious principles that were to make them in very truth good 
men or good women. There occurred, we feel warranted 
in saying, not a single instance of failure in this goodly 
process of transformation. 

The financial resources of the Orphanage, it is no harm 
to confess, have uniformly been slender enough, notwith¬ 
standing the liberal spirit manifested for its welfare by the 
people of St. John’s Parish. How the head of the Institu¬ 
tion managed all along to extend her labors into a field far 
beyond that officially provided for, is a problem that takes 
on an air of mystery. Sister Sarah met many an expendi¬ 
ture somehow—and that is all that the Trustees knew about 
it. One thing is certain,—whoever put money into her 
hands knew perfectly well that it would be economically 
used, in doing a great deal of good. It would be an act of 
remissness were no mention here made of the skilful admin¬ 
istration of the household thus happily presided over. 

The secret of Sister Sarah’s success lay in the fact that in 
a high degree hers was a refined and a loving nature; and 
yet there was in it no element of weakness. While exercis¬ 
ing a wise foresight, she went her way ever with firmness 
and with perfect courage. In a word, Sister Sarah was a 
born leader. 


IO 


It used frequently to be said that St. John’s Orphanage 
was not an institution,—it was a home. The word “ home” 
aptly described it. Each little boy or girl there looked up 
to a mother. So abundant was that mother’s love that 
every child enjoyed a generous share. Moreover, Sister 
Sarah’s watchful eye kept her family of children ever in 
good health. The little ones throve in the sunshine of her 
joyous nature. It was a treat for the visitor at the Orphan¬ 
age to look upon a group clustering around Sister Sarah. 
Year after year, keenly discerning what was suitable for 
this habitude or for that, she carried forward the work of 
training each and every child. With excellent judgment, 
she looked around, and found safe and befitting places for 
such as had become of an age no longer needing shelter 
under the Orphanage roof. The wonder is that Sister 
Sarah could herself attend to each individual case—but 
she did. 

In 1907 it was gratefully observed of her: 

“ During the past twenty-five years upwards of one thou¬ 
sand children have passed under her loving care to become 
happy and worthy men and women, and remaining earnest 
children of the Church which Sister Sarah’s loving mother¬ 
hood so well represents.” 

What has here been said pictures but inadequately the 
devotion to duty, crowned with success, that uniformly 
characterized the lifework of this truly remarkable woman. 
To the annual reports of the Orphanage Sister Sarah was 
accustomed to furnish a brief account of what had hap¬ 
pened under her immediate supervision during the previous 
twelve-month. The story she told was simple, yet im- 


pressive. One perceived that there was going on in this 
home a constant building up of character in boy or girl, a 
development of the better side of human nature, a practical 
demonstration of the real meaning of Christianity—and this, 
too, under the guidance of one who seemed as if divinely 
appointed to carry on the work. It was a triumph of 
charity. 

The following extract from one of Sister Sarah’s reports 
tells us (were there need to tell) why her name will ever be 
treasured as of blessed memory : 


We might mention here another case, a most unprom¬ 
ising little waif, brought many years ago by the police, whom 
we feared to receive lest she should do more harm than 
receive good. The mother in jail, the most degraded of 
her class, what could be hoped for the child? But she 
seemed gradually to forget her old habits, became industrious 
and useful. At a suitable age she left us for a position 
which she filled most acceptably, spending her holidays at 
the Orphanage; now the happy wife of an estimable farmer 
in her own comfortable home. We shudder to think where 
the little elf might have drifted, had no one held out to her 
a helping hand. 


Words fail to express how grateful are the Trustees of 
St. John’s Orphanage for the deeds wrought by this good 
woman—for the example she has left. Who can measure 
the influence of that long, unbroken stretch of service— 
loving and self-forgetful? Ours is a reasonable hope that 
the story of what Sister Sarah has accomplished will prove 
to be an inspiration to more than one kindly soul, who shall 
learn of it in years yet to come. 


12 


Says her brother, C. L. F. Huntington, writing from 
Toledo, Ohio, 17th of March, 1917: 

If there be any virtue in heredity, Sister Sarah comes 
naturally by her disposition to render faithful and sacri¬ 
ficing service to the Church, for she came from a Church 
loving ancestry. On her paternal side she descended from 
the Puritan ancestor, Simon Huntington, of Norwich, Con¬ 
necticut, which family has given to the Church many noted 
Rectors. 

From the Rev. John Lathrop, who for conscientious 
scruples, resigned his office in the Church of England, and 
became Pastor of the First Independent Church of London, 
and who later, with the greater part of his congregation, 
was arrested and confined in Newgate prison, in 1632, for 
two years. When released, he sailed, in 1634, for America. 
The Huntington family is closely allied with the Leffingwell, 
Tracy, and Hyde families. 

On her maternal side (Foster) she traced her ancestry 
to Anacher Great Forester, of Flanders, d. 837; to Lieut. 
Francis Peabody, and Mary Foster, daughter of Reginald 
Foster, whose family is honorably mentioned in Scott’s Lay 
of the Last Minstrel; also, in Marmion. 

George Peabody, the Philanthropist, Elizabeth Palmer 
Peabody, Mrs. Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mrs. Horace 
Mann were of the same family. 

Another ancestor was Bishop Richard Poore, founder of 
the present Salisbury Cathedral. 

In 1869, Sister Sarah made a trip to the Pacific Coast. 
From there she went to Honolulu, returning by sea, crossing 
the Isthmus, and so to New York. During this period 
Rev. John Vaughan Lewis had been called to St. John’s, 


3 


Washington. Seeking some one to take charge of an Or¬ 
phanage, and knowing her capability, he corresponded with 
her, and solicited her to visit Washington with this in view. 
This she did. In 1871 or 1872 she entered the Sisterhood 
and gradually assumed charge of St. John’s Orphanage, 
where she continued until her death January 25, 1917.” 

In order better to fit herself for her work, she made a 
trip to Europe in 1878, visiting the Sisters of St. Margaret, 
at East Grinstead, near London, and their Orphanages. On 
the Continent, she was especially interested in Pastor Theo¬ 
dor Fleidner’s Training School for Protestant Sisters of 
Charity, located at Kaiserwerth, on the Rhine, near Dus- 
seldorf. 


From Bishop Leonard, of Ohio , formerly Rector of 
St. John's , Washington. 

It is almost impossible to add anything to the beautiful 
tribute paid to Sister Sarah by the Trustees, at the hand of 
Mr. Hackett. 

My testimony is to the fact that, after a long period of 
years of experience, I have rarely, if ever, met a character 
such as hers. The combination of sanctity, utter and ab¬ 
solute self-sacrifice, and devotion; together with remark¬ 
able good sense and practicality, and also with the mother¬ 
ing instinct largely developed; the patience and the active 
persistence of her daily living in the midst of her large 
household, made her one of the most popular personalities 
that it has been my privilege to know. Not only in the 
Church, but in the Capital city, was she conspicuous as a 
benefactor; and yet her modesty and self-effacement would 
never permit any special recognition of her qualities. 

It was a joy to be associated with her in the venerable 
St. John’s Parish; and in these years since, I have coun¬ 
selled and advised with her as to intelligent methods for 
doing Christ’s service among little children. Many are they 
who will “ rise up and call her blessed;” and great will be 
the joy of her reunion with the souls she has comforted and 
helped to save. May the Lord give her perpetual light and 
an eternal reward. 

Eastertide, 1917. 


William A. Leonard. 


*5 


RESOLUTIONS OF THE LADIES’ AID. 


On the 30th January, 1917, the following resolutions, pre¬ 
sented by Mrs. Arthur Brice, were unanimously passed by 
the Board of the Ladies’ Aid of St. John’s Church Or¬ 
phanage : 

Whereas, Sister Sarah, for many years the faithful and 
loving Mother of St. John’s Church Orphanage, departed 
this life on Thursday, January 25, 1917, at four o’clock 
P. M., at the Orphanage, surrounded by those she loved best, 
and we trust and believe, without pain, and in full faith of a 
glorious immortality. 

We, the Ladies’ Aid of the Orphanage, desire to place on 
record an expression of our profound sorrow for the loss 
of one so much beloved for her noble life and unselfish 
devotion to God’s little innocents; and for the beautiful 
example she has set to all who would strive to do the Mas¬ 
ter’s will. 

Gifted with unusual intelligence and endowed with the 
bright spirit of youth, Sister Sarah was early called upon to 
decide what her mission in life should be. She possessed to 
an unusual degree a mind and heart which would have made 
her a prominent figure in any place of life, and whatever her 
choice might have been, we now realize the result and full 
value of her decision. 

More than forty years ago, the Orphanage was begun in 
a small way by Sister Sarah; and in all these years she strug¬ 
gled with many adversities, giving of her private means, 
and the full measure of her life, to the care, teaching and 
nurture of the children committed to her keeping. 



i6 


By her strength of character, tact and good judgment, and 
above all by her mother-love, the institution has enjoyed 
an unusual career, and remains a living testimonial to her 
life of love and devotion. 

Unbiassed by creed or sect, the brightness of her life 
shone in every direction, and she enjoyed at all times the 
respect and gratitude of those of every faith in this com¬ 
munity. 

Like a valiant soldier, she fought and overcame the 
obstacles which came in her path of duty, and with faith 
and undaunted courage, found the way to provide relief. 

We can but feebly express our gratitude for the lifework 
of this noble Christian woman; and it is not too much to 
say that coming generations will learn to revere and respect 
her memory; for she grafted into the hearts and minds of 
her children that love of truth, honor and right living which 
will be reflected in their ofifspring. 

She has reared and sent out into the world good men and 
women, who are living wholesome and useful lives, fortified 
and endowed with the spirit of her Christian teaching; and 
of whom she was ever wont to say— 

“ Let not ambition mock their useful toil, 

Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; 

Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile 
The short and simple annals of the poor.” 

True Copy: Attest: Sarah Tilghman Emory, 

Secretary Ladies' Aid. 



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